now part of our deal here at 9news is having gary nurenberg follow these fiscal cliff developments. he is here with tonight's wrap- up. >> reporter: an knit tax you are right, the president and the speaker got on the phone but as if to signal the lack of progress the house got out of town. the republican controlled house left town wednesday saying it has nothing to do. >> we need a response from the white house. we can't sit here and negotiate with ourselves. >> reporter: the president's treasury secretary said there's no room for negotiation on its demand for tax rate hikes for top income earners. >> is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. there's no prospect for an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up on the top 2% of the wealthiest members. >> reporter: republicans insist they can get the revenue without increasing tax rates. >> the revenues we're putting on the table are going to come from, guess who, the rich. >> reporter: but the president says that won't work. >> it is not possible for us to raise the amount of revenue that's